More advertisers dump Sandilands

An apology from
Southern Cross Media
chief executive
Rhys Holleran
for offensive comments by its high-rating Sydney radio announcer, Kyle Sandilands, has not stopped advertisers from deserting the company.

More than 20 companies have pulled ads from Southern Cross’s Sydney station 2Day after Mr Sandilands described a News Ltd journalist who wrote about the poor ratings of his latest television special on Seven Network as “some fat slag" and “a fat bitter thing".

After more than two days of refusing to comment on Mr Sandilands’ outburst, Mr Holleran issued a brief statement on Thursday night saying Southern Cross did not “condone his sentiments" and was “addressing issues with Kyle personally and assessing internal systems and processes".

“Kyle speaks his mind, however in this case we recognise that his opinions have caused offence and sincerely apologise," Mr Holleran said.

The statement did not stop American Express, Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, BlackBerry and Wesfarmers’ Coles and Target divisions from cancelling ads on 2Day on Friday. Holden, Telstra, Vodafone, Harvey Norman, the federal government and other advertisers had already yanked their campaigns from the station.